L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano C alabria is known for the beauty of i t s w i l d e r n e s s and its marvelous beaches, as well as, of course, its delicious food. Just like every other region in Italy, Calabria also has a very lively linguistic panorama, with varieties of its d i a l e c t s p o k e n a c r o s s t h e region. What many may not know is that our punta dello Stivale, the tip of the Italian boot, is also home to a small c o m m u n i t y s p e a k i n g … Greek. According to the linguistics website www.patrimonilin- guistici.it, the Greek dialect of Calabria belongs to a variety of the Greek language known b y H e l l e n i c e x p e r t s a s t h e S o u t h e r n I t a l i a n dialect. Part of it are also the Greek dialect spoken in Salen- t o , c a l l e d g r i k o , a n d t h e Greek dialects of Sicily. The part of Calabria where Greek dialects are spoken is called Calabria Grecanica a n d i t i s f u l l y l o c a t e d i n t h e R e g g i o C a l a b r i a province; among the villages included are Bova, Bova Mari- n a , S a n L o r e n z o , P a l i z z i , Montebello Ionico, Brancale- one, Melito di Porto Salvo, Bagaladi, Roghudi, Condofuri, Samo, Staiti, Motta San Gio- vanni and Reggio Calabria itself. Despite the fact Gre- canico is protected by law in Italy as a minoritarian lan- guage, there are only about 500 speakers left, distributed between Bova, Roghudi and Gallicianò. But when and why did Cal- a b r i a n s b e g i n s p e a k i n g Greek? There are two domi- nating theories: the first leads us all the way back to the times of Magna Graecia when the South of Italy was a Greek colony. It was German g l o t t o l o g i s t G e r h a r d Rohlfs to endorse it, point- ing out that the Grecanico dialect showed remarkable lexical, grammatical and syn- t a c t i c a l s i m i l a r i t i e s w i t h ancient Greek. The second theory, supported by Italian linguist Giuseppe Morosi, suggested a different hypoth- e s i s , a c c o r d i n g t o w h i c h Greek found its space in Cal- abria during the Byzantine period when the region was p a r t o f t h e h o m o n y m o u s empire. Morosi explained that, especially between the 9th and the 11th century, the area had witnessed a heavy i n f l u x o f G r e e k - s p e a k i n g migrants, who caused the dif- fusion of the language. Both theories, in any case, underline the ancient and vital connection between Cal- abria and Greek-speaking communities, as well as the s t r e n g t h o f a n i d i o m t h a t managed to survive the lin- guistic Latinization of the a r e a t h r o u g h o u t t h e c e n - turies. Greek was, once upon a time, a well-established and widely spoken language in Calabria, yet things were to change dramatically when Byzantine rule in Southern Italy came to an end at the hand of the Normans in the 11th century, first with the fall of Reggio Calabria between 1059 and 1060, then with that of Bari, in 1071. The power of Roman Catholicism, which was brought back to the for- merly Byzantine regions by t h e N o r m a n s t h e m s e l v e s , meant that also worship was to take place in Latin and no longer in Greek, as it had been under the rule of Byzan- tium and its Patriarch. Slow- l y , b u t p r o g r e s s i v e l y , a l l Greek-speaking dioceses in Calabria switched to Latin. This included also a large number of monasteries that had become true cultural cen- ters. By the 16th century, Greek was only spoken by a small minority, and it was widely associated with the most deprived social classes. Interestingly, the Grecanico dialect uses the Latin, not the Greek alphabet in its written form, a characteristic that shows the ultimate connec- tion and mixing of the two linguistic systems in the area. Grecanico's constant loss o f s p e a k e r s c o n t i n u e d through the centuries, all the way to the years of the Ven- tennio when all linguistic minorities were opposed as a dangerous sign of "non-Ital- ianess." In the 1930s, at the very apogee of Fascist power in the peninsula, the expres- sion "you are a Greek" or "you remind me of a Greek" were used in a denigratory manner in Calabria to indicate a per- son of low social extraction and lack of formal education. Grecanico and the Greek linguistic connection in Cal- abria were rediscovered by the already-mentioned Ger- m a n p h i l o l o g i s t G e r h a r d Rohlfs. Despite the academic interest, that lasts still today, t h e G r e e k o f C a l a b r i a i s , sadly, one of the languages in UNESCO's Red Book, where all idioms at risk of extinction are collected; it is also consid- ered an endangered language by the European Union. Q ualora (Kooa h-loh-rah) is a bit of a fancy word because we don't use it every day. Qualora is more of a "written Italian" thing or something you'd use in the spoken language only in higher, more formal regis- ters. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't know how to use it! Meaning-wise, qualora is a sort of fancy "if," which we always use with the subjunc- t i v e , i n s e n t e n c e s l i k e Qualora ce ne fosse bisog- no, potrete dormire da noi d o p o i l c o n c e r t o ( " I f i t ' s n e e d e d , y o u c a n s l e e p a t ours after the concert") or Possiamo anche iniziare il progetto la prossima setti- mana, qualora necessitassi di più tempo per organiz- zarti ("We could start the p r o j e c t n e x t w e e k i f y o u need more time to get orga- n i z e d " ) . B u t w e c a n a l s o translate it with a nice, well- rounded "in case," if (or in case) we want to be a tad fancier: Qualora arrivassi- mo in tempo, verremo cer- tamente a farvi un saluto a casa ("In case we get there on time, we'll certainly come to see you at home"). Qualora was used for the first time in the 13th century a n d i t i s t h e c o m p o u n d of quale (or qual, meaning "which") and ora (meaning "hour" or "time"). Petrarca used it already in his poetry, in the even fancier truncated version qualor, which we are n o l o n g e r l i k e l y t o h e a r today, not even in verse! - Qualora servisse, posso fare la prenotazione online per tutti. - In case it's needed, I can book for everyone online - S o c h e l a v i s i t a a Londra sarà breve, ma vor- r e i v i s i t a r e W e s t m i n s t e r Abbey qualora ce ne fosse il tempo - I k n o w o u r s t a y i n London'll be short, but I'd l i k e t o v i s i t W e s t m i n s t e r Abbey if there is time - In questo file trovi tutti gli indirizzi email dei tuoi colleghi, qualora ti servisse contattarli - In this file you'll find y o u r c o l l e a g u e s ' e m a i l adresses, in case you need to contact them LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day – qualora: in case we need to take all options into account! Italian curiosities: why are there people speaking Greek in Calabria? Folk dances, Calabria style. They are popular in rural areas of the region, just like Grecanico (Photo: Ermess/Dreamstime) Photo 56790075 © Wavebreakmedia Ltd | Dreamstime.com

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